We step into a minefield of perspective and controversy when we say we set out to radically reimagine the solution to poverty. And we go even further when we seek to redefine our collective understanding of poverty itself. This new book of mine is meant to be bold, to turn so-called social and societal norms on their heads.

My radical reimagining of the definition of poverty is what I call the HOPE Doctrine on Poverty. This approach to defining poverty is a departure from the status quo, because the current definition, respectfully, misses the point completely. It is limited by its sole commitment to numbers. But if we restrict the notion of poverty to a purely statistical interpretation, as our government is understandably required to do, we miss the human element. As I speak about poverty, I am an outlier.

My new book “How The Poor Can Save Capitalism,” is nothing if not practical. And so is my definition of poverty. After growing up as part of the teetering class in South Central Los Angeles and Compton, California; after being homeless at the age of eighteen; and after working over the past twenty-two years with everyone from the working poor to the working class to the struggling middle class, in the offices ofOperation HOPE, I feel as though I understand modern poverty.

The HOPE Doctrine on Poverty says that there are three things that define poverty and struggle more than any set of financial numbers ever could: self-confidence,self-esteem, and belief in oneselfrole models and environment; aspiration andopportunity. Or the lack of these things.

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Excerpt From: John Hope Bryant. How the Poor Can Save Capitalism. iBooks.

John Hope Bryant is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author ofLOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), and is the only 2010-2012 bestselling business author in America who is also African-American. Hisnewest bestselling book is HOW THE POOR CAN SAVE CAPITALISM(Berrett Koehler Publishing). Bryant is a Member of the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans,and co-chair for Project 5117, which is a plan for the rebirth of underserved America.

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Byline Credit: Kevin Boucher, Evelyn Ducoulombier


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